Zhou Dynasty
Empress Wu Zetian of China had found another Zhou Dynasty in 690 AD, which lasted during her reign. However, it is traditionally considered an interruption of the Tang Dynasty.\n----\n
The
Zhou Dynasty (周朝;
Wade-Giles:
Chou Dynasty) (late
10th century BC to late
9th century -
256 BC) followed the
Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the
Qin Dynasty in
China.
In the Chinese historical tradition, the rulers of the Zhou displaced the Yin and legitimized their rule by invoking the
Mandate of Heaven. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the
Ji family and had its capital at Hao, near the city of
Xi'an, or Chang'an, as it was known in its heyday in the imperial period. Sharing the language and culture of the Shang (Yin), the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicized, that is, extended Shang (Yin) culture through much of
China Proper north of the
Chang Jiang (Yangtze River).
In Western histography,
feudal has often been applied to the Zhou period because the Zhou's early decentralized rule invites comparison with
medieval rule in Europe. At most, however, the early Zhou system was proto-feudal, being a more sophisticated version of earlier tribal organization, in which effective control depended more on familial ties than on feudal legal bonds. Whatever feudal elements there may have been decreased as time went on. The Zhou amalgam of city-states became progressively centralized and established increasingly impersonal political and economic institutions. These developments, which probably occurred in the latter Zhou period, were manifested in greater central control over local governments and a more routinized agrarian taxation. In Chinese Marxist histography, the Zhou dynasty marks the began of the feudal phase of Chinese history, a period which is said to extend to the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911.
Initially the Ji family was able to control the country firmly. In
771 BC, after
King You had replaced his queen with a concubine Baosi, he was then sacked by the joint force of the queen's father, who was the powerful
Marquess of
Shen, and the barbarians. The queen's son
Ji Yijiu was proclaimed the new king by the nobles from the states of Zheng, Lu,
Qin and the Marquess of Shen. The capital was moved eastward in
722 BC to
Luoyang in present-day
Henan Province.
Because of this shift, historians divide the Zhou era into
Western Zhou (西周,
pinyin Xī Zhōu) from late
10th century BC to late
9th century up until
771 BC and
Eastern Zhou (
traditional Chinese character: 東周
simplified Chinese character: 东周,
pinyin Dōng Zhōu) from
770 up to
221 BC. The beginning year of Western Zhou has been disputed -
1122 BC,
1027 BC and other years within the hundred years from late
12th century BC to late
11th century BC have been proposed. Chinese historiographers take
841 BC as the first year of consecutive annual dating of the history of China, based on the
Records of the Grand Historian by
Sima Qian. Eastern Zhou divides into two subperiods. The first, from
722 to
481 BC, is called the
Spring and Autumn Period, after a famous historical chronicle of the time; the second is known as the
Warring States Period.
With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhou court gradually diminished; the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. From Ping Wang onwards, the Zhou kings ruled only symbolicly, with true power being held in the hands of powerful nobles. Towards the end of Zhou Dynasty, the nobles did not bother to obey the Ji family, even symbolically and declared themselves to be kings. They wanted to be the king of the kings. Finally, the dynasty was obliberated by
Qin Shi Huangdi's reunification of China in 221 BC.
Zhou dynasty kings
See also
\n*Chinese historiography \n*
Chinese sovereign \n*
Huns \n*
Period of the Warring States \n*
Spring and Autumn Period \n*
Tribes in Chinese history
External link
\n*Map of Zhou